Log In My Account Join Upgrade Premium VIP Beta Tester Free Trial
Menu Search Join VIP Beta Tester Premium

Home ❯ Songs ❯

Stairway to Heaven

by Led Zeppelin • Lesson #69 • May 18, 2017

Editor’s Notes

In this lesson, I’ll teach you how to play the first part of the intro riff to Stairway to Heaven. I’ll show you tabs, but also give a tutorial on the chord positions needed, finger picking patterns, how to practice the difficult parts, given an introduction to barre chords, and everything else you’ll need to play the the opening bars of this classic Led Zeppelin song.

Note! As of now, I have not made a full lesson for this entire song. What’s below is what I have. I may make more lessons for it at some point, but that’ll be for some day in the future. If you’d really like me to make more lessons teaching it, feel free to email me to let me know.

Intro Video Lesson

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Playthrough
  • 0:26 Lesson overview
  • 1:46 1st chord (barring basics)
  • 3:50 2nd & 3rd chords (walking bass notes)
  • 5:30 4th chord (big jump to D/F#)
  • 7:25 Final 3 chords & turnaround
  • 9:21 Add the fingerpicking
  • 10:42 Closing thoughts

Interlude Video Lesson

This second lesson teaches you the “Oh, it makes me wonder” part heard between 2:14-2:38 of the song.

This second video explores some more of the acoustic nooks & crannies of Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. In this video I’m going to break down the interlude section heard between 2:14 and 2:38 of the official recording (which has the vocal “Oh, it makes me wonder”). I’ll teach you how to play this section on guitar: playing the chord shapes, approaching strumming, and how to get over the hump with the triads & difficult transitions.

Practice Notes 4 pages

It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

Thanks for being a Premium member of Song Notes! Your support makes these lessons possible.

Download PDF

Here's a print-friendly PDF I made with all of my practice notes for this lesson. This lets you follow along with everything I show in video tutorial at your own pace.

To download the PDF, upgrade to premium or log in.

Unlock My Secret Stash!

Gain instant access to my library of 308 print-friendly cheat sheets! Also includes my extended video lessons, jam tracks, courses, and more.

Join Song Notes Premium

Have questions? Watch video tour »

Browse Related Lessons

Click any tag below to view other lessons I've made in that category:

Enjoy My Lessons? Show Your Support!

Most of the lessons on my website are 100% free. If you have the means, please show your support with a tip jar contribution. I put many hours into every lesson — but it only takes you a minute to make a donation. You have my thanks!

Donate

Looking for More Song Lessons?

Recently Added
Most Popular
Beginner-Friendly
Browse by Artist
Browse by Song Title
Browse by Song Year
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s

Featured Courses

Guitar for Beginners

A guide to getting started with guitar! Everything you need to know to begin your journey. Choosing a guitar, other gear you'll need, fretting notes & chords, learning your first songs, and more.

14 lessons

View

Beginner Chord Guide

A guide to the must-know chords you'll need when getting started with guitar! The quickest way to learn major chords, minor chords, the chords in each key, and more.

22 lessons

View

Reading Music for Guitarists

Learn to read tabs, chord charts, fretboard diagrams, strumming patterns, and more! This course explains how to understand all of these must-know notation styles.

6 lessons

View

Blues Starter Kit

A guide to must-know elements of beginner blues guitar! I'll walk you through the essential topics, showing you fun things to play along the way.

18 lessons

View
Christmas Songbook
Strumming & Rhythm
Learning Lead Guitar
Fingerstyle & Travis Picking
Practical Music Theory
Major Keys
Minor Keys
Double Stops
Diagonal Pentatonics
Walk Ups & Walk Downs
Using a Capo
CAGED Shapes
Practice Tips
Barre Chords

Fun & Helpful Tools I've Made

Fret Monster

Interactive fretboard map! See the patterns behind every scale in any key.

View

JamBox

Play-along practice tracks, showing chord changes on screen, to help make practice more fun!

View

Key Master

See and hear the notes, chords, scales used in each of the most common keys.

View

Capo Captain

An easy way to calculate key & chord combinations, for any capo location!

View

Blank Tabs

Free PDF templates to download, print, and write out your own guitar tabs!

View

Coming soon is Jambox – which shows all the video jam tracks I've made. It's note quite ready for the spotlight, but check it out if you like!

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Be sure to never miss a lesson by subscribing on YouTube. I put out 2-3 new videos every week. These include full song lessons, as well as covers, practice tips, behind-the-scenes updates. Thanks!

Recent Lessons

  • June 6, 2026

    Melody, with Chords: "Love Me Tender"

    Learn to play Love Me Tender's melody and chords at the same time! This lesson uses Key of C chords (capo 2), which simplify things in several helpful ways.

  • June 5, 2026

    "Love Me Tender" as played by Elvis Presley

    Learn to sing & strum this all-time classic! I'll teach you the alternating bass note approach that Elvis uses in his 1956 recording, with plenty of helpful tips included.

  • May 29, 2026

    Learning Triads with "Happy Birthday" (Key of G)

    Here's an amazingly helpful way to get better with triads: use it to play the familiar song Happy Birthday. In this lesson, I'll show you two ways to do this in the Key of G.

  • May 19, 2026

    Guitar Jam Tracks: How I Make Them!

    In today's lesson I'll answer a common question: how do I make the audio + video jam tracks that accompany my lessons! I walk through the process in real-time using my DAW of choice (GarageBand on the Mac).

  • May 4, 2026

    New and Improved! Song List Update.

    For years, 50+ song-inspired lessons I've made haven't been in the "Song" section of my website... until now! A few other improvements are included too.

  • April 24, 2026

    Country Fingerstyle, Melody + Bass (feat. "Live Forever" by Billy Joe Shaver)

    Learn three ways to dive into a melodic country style groove, inspired by Billy Joe Shaver's Live Forever.

  • April 21, 2026

    Sneak Peek! Step-by-Step Travis Picking Course

    The last few months I've been working on a brand new course, and the first 13 lessons are now online. Over 20 exercise videos are also included. Much more to come soon!

  • April 10, 2026

    "Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty

    Learn to strum and sing Tom Petty's 1989 classic. I include a campfire version (no capo), as well as the colorful chord variations used in Key of D (capo 3) and Key of E (capo 1) versions. Rhythm & strumming tips too!

  • March 23, 2026

    "I'm a Little Crazy" by Morgan Wallen

    A step-by-step fingerstyle guide to Morgan Wallen's hit from 2025. I demonstrate a handful of ways to approach Trais-style fingerpicking, where each layer builds upon the last.

Browse All Recent Lessons →

← back to homepage


Title (long)
"Stairway to Heaven" intro by Led Zeppelin
Title (short)
Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin
YouTube URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RybdmubxzY
Thumbnail (video)
Video thumbnail for
Thumbnail (pdf)
PDF thumbnail for
Slug
69
Lesson URL
/lessons/69/
PDF num pages
4
Patreon URL
https://www.patreon.com/posts/27574943
Discussion URL
n/a
Add to Favorites
List of Favorites